2 Answers
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Using a local repository is definitely a good option, but there is a tool made almost exactly for this scenario that you may want to contemplate using.

The tool in question, pacserve, was created specifically to allow sharing packages downloaded to one Arch rig with others on the same network to speed up the transfer and cut-down on bandwidth usage (I imagine getting it to work with VMs shouldn't be that difficult). It is in the ALUR along with one other dependency that is not in the official repos. Give it a shot!